Jockey

Since 2007, Steve Smith Eccles has been a jockey coach at the British Racing School on the outskirts of Newmarket but, in his younger days, was a highly successful National Hunt jockey. “The Ecc”, as he was fondly known, is probably best remembered as the jockey of See You Then, trained by Nicky Henderson, who won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival three years running in 1985, 1986, 1987. An impressive achievement to say the least. However, Smith Eccles rode a total of 861 winners and, following the retirement of John Francome in 1985, occupied the No. 1 peg in the weighing room until hanging up his riding boots in 1994.

Despite his aristocratic name, Smith Eccles is the son of a Derbyshire coal miner and was born into a family with no previous horse racing connections. Apparently, Eccles was the surname of his grandfather, an orphan, who added the Smith in honour of the family that brought him up. His first job, with Harry Thomson Jones in Newmarket, was the result of a speculative letter by his father. Some years later, he had the distinction of riding legendary steeplechaser Tingle Creek to win at Sandown, breaking the course record in the process.

During his riding career, Smith Eccles developed, probably quite justifiably, a reputation for hedonism. Interviewed towards the end of his career, in 1993, he said, “OK, I’ll be known for my cavalier attitude to life, but I would like to be remembered for my riding ability and the winners I’ve ridden rather than my character.”

UK horse racing is of course never short of a character or two, and punters love that trait when combined with a winning attitude because ultimately it’s all about putting pounds in your pocket, finding the best odds to chance and making good at the big events, such as Eccles performances at the aforementioned Cheltenham Festival. Such an impressive and consistent performance three years running in the Champions Hurdle no doubt saw some punters cash it. It’s certainly not the first time following a jockey has resulted in good fortune for those following their rides either. Who can forget Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven?

Popularly referred to as “Willie”, Willy Carson was born in Stirling in Scotland in 1942. A young man with a keen interest in racing, the Scottish rider embarked on a successful apprenticeship at Tupgill – North Yorkshire. Here at Captain Gerald Armstrong’s stables, Carson honed his superlative riding skills to a pencil-point. Owing to his natural talent he soon registered a win at just the age of 20.

This morale-boosting triumph in mid 1962 at Catterick Bridge Racecourse in a seven-furlong handicap for apprentices greatly catapulted Carson’s racing profile. According to the award-winning racer, the 1962 feat was a profoundly inspiring breakthrough that strengthened his passion and enthusiasm for the sport. He has stated many times that he wouldn’t have made history as a widely celebrated jockey without this career-enhancing handicap success.

As his successes continued the gifted rider was pronounced the British Champion Jockey five times, an elusive achievement clinched by very few other jockeys. Carson has also passed a whopping 100 winners within a single season.

The unmatched Scottish racer attained 3,328 wins within a relatively short but marvelously prosperous career. This overwhelming success makes Willy Carson one of the most successful jockeys, and indeed sporting celebrities  in Great Britain. No wonder Carson did well in the 11th series of ITV1’s reality show – “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”

For his exemplary participation and matchless contribution to the British horse racing fraternity, Carson was honored with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He has also been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Chester in 2010.

Mick Fitzgerald was born on 10th May 1970 and is now a retired Irish jockey who won outstanding acclaim throughout his illustrious National Hunt career. Although of Irish descent, Fitzgerald registered more of his wins in Great Britain than in his native land. After retirement, the soft-spoken champion jockey became a television racing presenter, a plum media position he still holds today.

With a successful career that spanned beyond 15 years, Mick Fitzgerald started riding as a boy, often practicing with Richard Lister, a locally recognised trainer in County Wexford. As his interest in horses and horse riding mounted, he further moved to Curragh to ride out for a well-known stable owner called John Hayden. Upon leaving school at 18, Fitzgerald gained weight and thus shifted to National Hunt racing.

Despite his several apprenticeships and scores of professional ties, Fitzgerald’s first sporting victories didn’t come until the 1991 and 1992 racing seasons when the talented rider attained substantial success. These important career boosting wins came from his new partnership with Ray Callow’s Duncan Idaho and Jackie Retter.

After showing promise, Mick Fitzgerald partnered with Nicky Henderson. This training deal ended up lasting right up to the very end of his prosperous career. His most spectacular wins include the Rough Quest ride to an impressive Grand National victory in 1996 and the 1999 Cheltenham Gold Cup title, which he clinched on See More Business. In interviews, Fitzgerand has hinted that his initial lack of success in Europe almost lured him out of the continent to try his luck in Australia.

Silvestre De Sousa was born on 31st December 1980, within São Francisco do Maranhão in Brazil. He’s a widely feted Brazilian jockey who lives in the United Kingdom. Silvestre De Sousa has had much success in racing despite it being a belated career choice. The influential jockey didn’t sit on a horse until the age of 17. Although he joined the racing world as a young adult, he surpassed the achievements of many long-trained contemporaries.

As a young rider, the trailblazer spent a perid of time as an apprentice at Cidade Jardim horse training sporting facility. It is here that Fausto Dursohelped De Sousa to his present racing glory. Initially, it only took Durso’s casual remark that the would-be protege had an excellent build for a jockey, to spur him on.

According to details from his tutelage days, De Sousa has been quoted as saying that his initial training as a jockey was riddled with numerous and significant challenges. For example, it took the champion about six months to achieve the milestone of a successful maiden ride. Nonetheless, all this admirable determination would soon pay off a little over a year later.

Ever since that breakthrough, De Sousa has gone frrom strength to strength, and is talked of in many quarters as among the century’s most exemplary horse handlers and jockeys. The South American racetrack luminary has ridden well over 160 winners so far. While not as award-decorated as some other established predecessors and contemporaries, De Sousa has cemented a lasting imprint in the annals of racing history as one of the seasoned riders the world has ever seen.